Let the Running Begin

I decided today that I should get to running if I really think I'm going to run this marathon next May. It is absolutely FRIGID in Pittsburgh today. I wanted to run 3 miles, but the temperature was in the teens, the wind chill was negative, and the wind was blowing at 20 mph. Not pleasant! Instead of giving up, I decided to head over to the gym to do my 3 mile jog. That was both good and bad!

Good - actually ran 3 miles, didn't give up!

Bad - treadmills are so boring!!!

When I did my first marathon in 2005, I trained through the winter, and I've actually come to like that feeling you get when you run in the cold. The wind is just too much though because even with ear muffs, it hurts! So off to the treadmill I went... with no iPod. Ugh. I made it through my mileage, but I stopped once in the middle to walk. And seriously, in all honesty to myself, that was pure mental garbage/boredom. Oh well. Can't win them all right? At least I finished! I meandered my way back home, and when it was all said and done, I burned 924 calories. Nice!

So, all this running and talking of marathons makes me think about a post I read on another blog this week. It was about being a "try" athlete, which I thought was awesome! You can read it here. What really struck me is that throughout my life, even with my marathon, half marathons, P90x, etc. I still tell people that I am not an athlete. I started to wonder why I do that... you know, I have no clue! But I know I'm going to stop... just because I wasn't a HS or college athlete on some kind of team sport does not mean I'm not an athlete. I need to start giving myself credit! So thanks to Amazon Runner for the post!

I hope everyone out there who gets up everyday and presses play or goes for a jog or hits the gym gives themselves the credit they deserve. You are an athlete! And so am I! :)